Leah furiously stormed into her room, slamming the door behind her. She didn’t care to exercise the proper politeness one usually did in someone else’s home, not when she suspected what had been done to her within said home.

Zach’s mom had to have been the one doing this. There was no other explanation that made sense, and Zach had to know. Why wouldn’t he tell her? They knew almost everything about one another since they first day they had met back in 5^th grade. He was never the type to keep secrets and was always so forthright and honest. However, it seemed like that all had been a lie all along. It broke her heart.

Granted, your mom having the ability to turn boys into girls and completely remodel bedrooms in seconds was definitely a weird secret, and one that probably should have been kept for the simple fact that people would think your crazy otherwise.

That didn’t change the fact that she felt completely toyed with. Her mind was a muddled mess, and her body was becoming something it was never naturally supposed to be. Or was it? She didn’t know! She wanted to be a girl, but she didn’t remember wanting to be a girl before; she didn’t remember a whole lot of anything about her prior mindset.

There was only one thing that stood out to her about the way she felt as a boy, and that was the way she had treated girls. The first advice she had given Zach about girls came to mind first, and then other memories quickly followed.

“Girls are easy. You go up to them, tell them they’re pretty, and boom you got them hook, line, and sinker.”

It bewildered her that she had actually said that. What kind of advice was that? And yet, she remembered employing that strategy more than a few times. She acted like she had been fishing for points; the more dates she got, the more street cred among the guys.

She didn’t think she had been a bad guy, but looking back, her viewpoint on girls was very skewed. She had simplified them in her mind, putting them in a little box. Of course she had always been polite to them, but at the end of the day, she viewed them as an asset, something pretty to look at and touch. Objects to fulfill desire.

Leah stepped into her new closet and began to undress, letting out a breath as she took her bra off and allowed her breasts a chance to breathe. She picked out a fresh pair of panties and slipped on a set of pajamas that had been folded neatly in one of the drawers.

She looked at herself in the mirror. She was sure if her male self had laid eyes on who she was now, he would have hit on her immediately with some kind of stupid pick up line. He would have told her how pretty she was with a stupid grin on his face. It was kind of disgusting to think about, especially with the knowledge of what was going on in her male self’s mind.

Leah stepped out of the closet and flopped down on the bed with a huff. Her perception had definitely changed, along with quite a few other things. Her eyes had been opened to the intricacies of the female sex that she had been completely ignorant to before. At least she could say that was one benefit from all this, and even then she realized she couldn’t even relate to real girls on a lot of things due to the fact that she had only been a girl for a day so far. What other things did women have deal with that she had never considered?

There was a sudden tightening in her belly, followed by an uncomfortable tugging sensation in her nether region. She winced at the unmistakable feeling of something entering her body. She reached down, and wasn’t surprised to feel a noticeable lack of testicles, which were no doubt on their way to somewhere else within her.

She didn’t know how she should feel about that. She wasn’t sad necessarily, in fact she was kind of relieved it was happening, but it was still an unquestionably unnerving occurrence.

This whole day had been a whirlwind of changes and emotion, overwhelming her senses and preconceived notions of the world. She had no clue what the next morning held, much less what the rest of her life was going to be like.

She curled up in the soft covers of her bed and prepared herself for the most restless night of her life as she mulled in the maelstrom of thoughts in her mind.

***

Zach lay stiffly on the couch with his eyes wide open. He had stayed outside for a while to have some much needed time to himself. Strangely enough, when he had finally decided to come in, his mother was nowhere to be found and her room was locked up tight.

Of course Zach didn’t mind. He had no inclination to see his mother now anyway. He had never despised her more than he did at this moment. All of her tricks, ploys, lessons, and spells all throughout his life had boiled over into this moment; this moment where she made it nearly impossible for him to keep her secret and stick true to his promise. Why did it matter? Why couldn’t he just tell Leah?

That stupid saying kept ringing in his mind. Promises are binding, and secrets are powerful. His mom had said that to him when she had revealed her magic for the first time here on this very couch, thirteen years ago, when his promise was made.

…

“Zach sweetie, mommy has something very important to tell you,” his mother said as she bent down to pick him up and carried him over to the couch. She sat down with him on her lap. “Do you know what a promise is Zach?”

“Like pinky promise?” Zach asked innocently.

His mom pursed her lips, “I suppose so. What does it mean to make a pinky promise?”

“When you make a pinky promise, you do this,” Zach said, holding out his small pinky finger in a very serious manner.

His mother held up her pinky finger and curled it around his, “And then what?”

“And then you say ‘I pinky promise.’”

Lindsay laughed, “But you have to know what you’re promising don’t you?”

“Yeah..." Zach murmured.

“A promise is something that you say you’re going to do, and then you do that thing no matter what.”

“Oh,” little Zach said distractedly.

“Want me to show you?” his mom asked.

“Yeah.”

“Okay.” She held out her pinky for Zach to take, which he did. “I pinky promise that I will give my little Zach man a big old raspberry right on his belly button.”

Zach’s mouth went wide with excitement as he squirmed to get away from her, but she pulled him tight to her chest.

“No!” He squealed through a giggling fit of childlike laughter as she lifted his shirt and blew a terrific raspberry right in the center of his small belly.

She pulled him in for a tight hug and assaulted him with a flurry of motherly kisses as he wriggled in her arms energetically. His infectious laughter filled the room, and Lindsay couldn’t help but laugh along with him.

The excitement settled down once more as they sat in each other’s embrace. Lindsay straightened out her son’s ruffled hair. Her face grew gently somber. “It is very important to keep your promises. Do you understand?”

“Like this?” he asked excitedly. “I pinky promise that I’m going to tickle mommy!” Zach fluttered his tiny fingers on his mom’s stomach in an attempt to start the fun again, but his mother only smiled. It wasn’t the happy kind of smile either. It was heavy, verging on sorrowful.

“Zach, I want you to listen to me okay? Listen very closely to mommy,” she said, taking both of his hands in hers. “I’m about to tell you a very important secret. Can you tell me what a secret is?”

Zach frowned, “Something you can’t talk about. Like my friend Lucas said that a cat came to his house one time, and he petted it, and he didn’t tell his mommy and daddy about it even though they told him that he couldn’t petted strays.”

Lindsay looked at her son sternly, “And did your friend Lucas tell you to not tell anyone about the cat that he pet?”

Zach nodded. “Uh huh.”

“And you just told me.”

Zach covered his mouth with his hand abashedly at the realization, “Oops!”

“Did you pinky promise that you would keep his secret?”

Zach shook his head quickly, “Nuh uh.”

“That’s good at least,” Lindsay said, pulling her son closer to her. “You should never tell a secret if you promise the person that you won’t tell. Another should never share someone else’s secret, especially when there is a promise involved. Secrets can be powerful. Do you understand?”

“Yes mommy.”

“So if I tell you my secret, will you promise to not tell anyone?”

“I promise,” Zach confirmed.

Lindsay nodded, “Okay.” She eyed her son carefully as he waited patiently for her to continue. “I have magic.”

With a flick of her hand, Zach’s toys that were scattered on the floor lifted into the air. His stuffed animals moved as if on their own volition, sparking to life as they danced and jumped around. The crayons he had been using arranged themselves by color and flew circles around the both of them on the couch.

Zach let out a gasp of surprise and held onto his mother tightly.

“You don’t have to be afraid Zach,” his mother said, placing a hand on his head. “Your mommy is the one doing this. Look.” She pointed to Zach’s favorite stuffed teddy bear, proudly named Nutter Butter. Nutter Butter walked across the room to the couch, and reached out to Zach. “I think Nutter Butter wants a hug,” she said.

Zach tentatively reached out to his familiar stuffed friend, but was still unsure about how to act given the unexpected occurrence.

“High Mr. Zach!” His mother said, doing the the same voice that she always did when she did the voice for the teddy bear, “You’ve given me so many hugs, and now I can finally give you one too!”

Zach smiled shyly, “Okay.” He allowed the bear to step closer and give him a hug, which he eventually returned.

“Now I can puppet Nutter Butter with no hands,” Lindsay said with a mischievous smile as she wiggled her fingers in the air.

“Is this magic like on Barney?” Zach asked his mother excitedly.

“Kind of,” his mother shrugged as the stuffed animals grew still once more and the crayons laid themselves out neatly on the coffee table. “Only it’s far better because it’s enchanting mommy magic.”

“En-chant-ing?” Zach pronounced the word slowly.

“That’s right. I can do almost anything I can imagine as long as I make the right promises and keep the right secrets,” Lindsay said.

“Wow,” Zach whispered in amazement.

Lindsay cupped Zach’s smiling little face in her hand. “I was three years old, the same age you are right now, when my mother first showed me her magic and told me I couldn’t tell anyone about it. It was hard, but I kept my promise, and I know you can too since you and I are just alike.”

“Can I have magic too?!” Zach squealed with delight as he squeezed his teddy bear excitedly.

Lindsay shook her head sadly, “No. This magic is only for girls like mommy.”

Zach’s head dropped with sheer disappointment.

“But,” his mother continued, “I have a very special gift for you.”

Her words caused Zach to perk up slightly, “A present?”

“That’s right, but I can’t give it to you right now. It has to be later. You have to make a promise to mommy first.”

“What promise?”

“A very important promise. You have to officially pinky promise me that you will never tell another person about magic until the day that I say you can.”

“Okay.”

Lindsay shook her head. “This isn't a small promise Zach. You can’t tell a single person about magic. Not your best friend, not a teacher at school, not even a pet. Can you do that for mommy?”

Zach thought for a moment, but finally nodded. He held out his pinky finger to his mom. “I pinky promise that I won’t tell anyone about mommy’s magic.”

His mom wrapped her pinky around Zach’s. “Promises are binding and secrets are powerful. You’ve promised, so now you need to keep that promise, or else my surprise to you will go away.”

“Why does it go away?”

“Because it’s tied to your promise. Remember what I said about secrets? They’re powerful. If you give away a big secret, bad things can happen. Things can break or mess up.”

Zach looked at her blankly, visibly not grasping the concept.

“Let me show you,” she said as she closed her eyes. “Right now mommy is purposely breaking a secret promise that I just created.”

“What secret?”

“I can’t tell. It’s a secret,” Lindsay said, putting her finger to her lips. “But since I just broke that promise…”

Zach grew alert as the house suddenly lurched. The white painted walls began to whither and decay, turning a faded black color. The decay spread further and faster along the walls, working its way up to the ceiling and down to the floor. The furniture began to disintegrate and the holes began to open up in the floor.

He jumped into his mother’s arms, but she didn’t react. The walls began to crumble, and the carpet began to fade. The entire house began to fall apart around them, shaking and creaking horribly. Zach’s home, his comfort, everything he owned and loved was falling away before his eyes.

Zach screamed out in fear and panic at what seemed like the end of the world was happening around him.

And then suddenly it wasn’t. In an instant everything was back to normal, not a single thing out of place. It was eerily quiet in the aftermath of the crumbling catastrophe that had just been happening mere seconds before.

“Unlike the house, my gift to you can’t be fixed if it gets broken. If you break your promise to me then a very very sad thing will happen. Promises are binding and secrets are powerful Zach,” his mother said somberly.

Zach sat trembling in his mother’s arms, her words echoing distantly in his mind.

...

Those words still echoed in his mind thirteen years later. If he told someone about magic, something bad would happen. The image of his crumbling home played back in his mind. It had been so many years, Zach didn’t even think about the ominous gift his mother had spoken of anymore. The only thing that stayed his hand was the unknown consequences of revealing her secret.

It had always been hard. Since the day his mom told him of magic, his life had played out like a twisted version of The Magic School Bus, one magical lesson after another. There were so many occasions when he wanted to tell someone about what his mom could do.

Like the time she transported him back to ancient Greece when he was learning about it in school. Or the time when he had made fun of a deaf person, so she took away his hearing for a day to show him what it was like. And the time when she had transferred his consciousness into a worker bee for a few hours when he had complained about doing chores. The list went on and on.

But this lesson felt different. It definitely stood out from all of her other “female experiences” she was notorious for pulling as well. Though thinking about some of those instances caused a shiver to run down his spine, this situation was still different. It wasn’t just because she was changing his friend because that had been the case with Matt too; it was the way she was doing it. It was torture.

She kept Liam aware of the changes, and allowed him the ability to draw the correct conclusions, thus putting pressure on Zach to reveal the full truth. It was like she was trying to destroy their friendship all for the name of teaching them each something about girls. Did she not want him to keep her secret? Why test him?

He thought about what Leah said, about the look on her face when he had lied to her and the tear that he had caused her to shed. No matter what the consequences were, it wasn’t worth losing a friend over. He made up his mind. He would tell her everything in the morning.

Zach closed his eyes, stewing in his resolve. Nerves wracked his body, but he somehow forced them away. Slowly but surely, Zach drifted off to sleep. In doing so, he failed to notice the bright radiant light that shone through into the hallway, emanating from the crack underneath his mother’s bedroom door.